Source: Radio New Zealand
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says council staff have worked hard to stay within budget. Jessica Hopkins / RNZ
A lobbyist who used to work for Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is now a critic of the city’s 7.9 percent rates rise.
Josh Van Veen was Brown’s deputy chief of staff just two months ago, but is now publicly criticising his former boss over the proposed rise in rates.
Auckland Councillors approved the mayor’s draft 2026/2027 annual budget – which included a 7.9 percent average residential rates increase – on Monday.
Mayor Brown said the increase was higher than ideal, but the new City Rail Link, set to cost roughly $235 million to run each year, was the primary driver.
Van Veen left his post at the mayor’s office after the October local body elections and is now a spokesperson for lobby group Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance.
The group released a statement today, demanding that the mayor put a specific number on how much of the rates increase was to cover the new rail network.
“I don’t think that he has intentionally misled anyone about the rates increase, but I think that there are questions to be asked about the numbers,” Van Veen told RNZ.
The mayor has previously butted heads with the ratepayers group.
In an email in October, he told the group to “F off” after they asked him to sign a pledge to keep rates down.
Van Veen said his departure from the mayor’s office was not because of any personal issues with the mayor.
“There’s no bad blood. I think the mayor has a very hard job, and he is just one vote around the council table.
“I wear my heart on my sleeve in terms of my politics. I previously worked for the Ratepayers’ Alliance, and now I’m back. For me, it’s all about the policy, not the personalities.”
But he believed the mayor could cut spending more and advised him to ask the hard questions.
“Certainly, a lot of savings were found in the last council term. But the Ratepayers’ Alliance would argue the mayor could have gone a lot further.
“My advice is don’t take at face value any of the advice you receive from council officers. Ask the hard questions, be sceptical, be thorough.”
He said some Auckland councillors had requested that a breakdown justifying the rates increase be available for when the public was consulted on the budget in early 2026.
At the Auckland Town Hall, where councillors met on Tuesday, Brown told RNZ the proposed rates increase was in line with the council’s 2024 to 2034 Long-Term Plan.
He said council staff had worked hard to stay within budget.
“Read the papers, the annual plan has everything in it. You can find out what the cost of a park in Howick is.
“If people are too lazy to get the information, it’s not my job to take them word by word through the process.”
The mayor said the recession, infrastructure costs and rebuilding after flooding had all been costly for the city.
He only had one thing to say to Van Veen’s claim that he had not gone hard enough when it came to cutting council spending.
“He had his opportunity last term.”
The mayor was whisked away before he could answer questions about why Van Veen was no longer in his circle. His advisor said that it was an employment matter.
“It’s nothing. The contract ended,” said Brown.
The mayor’s budget would be open for public consultation from 27 February to 29 March.
Auckland Council has been asked what the dollar amount of the average rates increase proposed would be, but was unable to provide the information immediately.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
